Page 55 of Their Witch Bride

His roar shakes the walls of the room, but it doesn’t stop him from attacking Prince Rinan. The prince is pinned under him, biting back, preventing the bear from getting ahold of his neck, but the bear’s teeth and claws are finding flesh, and the prince is moving slower by the moment.

He needs my help. I have to save him.

Grabbing my sword, I race up to the bear, trying to find the right angle to attack, but they’re moving too much. The bear slashes the prince again, and a whimper explodes from the pinned wolf. The bear's claws strike this time across his chest, and Prince Rinan isn’t quick enough to avoid them. The bear uses the prince’s weak moment to get his jaws around his throat, and then, the bear has him.

Please be enough. Please be enough.

Aiming for the center of his back, where his heart should be if I push the sword through far enough, I drive my sword into its back.

The bear roars, a terrible sound, but I just keep pushing, deeper and deeper. His claws try to reach me, but he can’t. I’m out of his reach, and his movements are weakened and confused. I pull the sword out and push it in again and again and again with all my might, until the bear collapses on top of Rinan, unmoving.

“Rinan!” I cry out, mentally pleading “please don’t be dead” over and over again as I struggle to lift the bear’s body off of him.

It isn’t easy. The bear is a giant compared to me, and he’s all dead weight, but I finally manage to leverage myself against the ground and roll him using my back. The bear goes sliding to the side, not far, but enough that I can reach the wolf.

Prince Rinan is lying there motionless, his fur matted with blood. He looks… dead, and the thought fills me with horror. He can’t be dead. He just can’t be.

Panic washes over me as I slowly kneel next to him, reaching out for his throat and feeling for his heartbeat. It’s faint but steady. Thank the gods! I press my fists into the ground and take a deep breath trying to hold back tears of relief.

The wolf’s eyes open. And I’m surprised, they’re the same light blue shade as Prince Rinan’s.

He begins to shift until Prince Rinan is laying in front of me. He’s covered in gashes. Blood is everywhere. His gaze is filled with pain.

“It’s okay,” I tell him. “I’m here. I’m going to get you help, and you’re going to be okay.”

His hand is suddenly on mine.

I squeeze it, tears prickling my eyes. “You did really well. You were really brave.” A sob tears from my throat. “I’m so sorry.”

There’s a sound behind me. I leap to my feet, sword in hand, pointing it at my would-be attacker. Bear or human, I don’t care. But there’s not another threat. Princes Arlys and Drogo are standing in the doorway, eyes wide, mouths hanging open.

I drop my sword and collapse back to my knees. Everything’s going to be okay.

NINETEEN

Tara

Blood is everywhere. It coats Rinan’s body, and spreads out in a puddle on the floor. There’s just so much of it. An impossible amount. A human couldn’t survive this much blood loss, but he’s a shifter. He’ll be okay. Won’t he?

“What the fuck happened? Where did they come from?” Prince Drogo shouts angrily, desperately, like he’s terrified and angry all at once.

I can’t pay attention to him. Not when Prince Rinan is here dying. “The bear,” is all I can manage.

“How did a fucking bear get in here?” Prince Drogo sounds more frightened than angry.

“We need a healer!” Prince Arlys shouts, kneeling at my side.

Prince Rinan doesn’t move. He just continues to pump out blood like this is his dying day. Please let it stop. He has to get better. Right?

Damn it. I’m not about to find out. I’m not about to just sit here and do nothing. Because healers can heal almost anything, but they can’t fix death. And shifter healers? I imagine they’re capable of even less.

I lean down and put my trembling hand on his face, cupping his cheek. His gaze meets mine, and he doesn’t seem to know what I’m doing, but his eyes don’t leave mine. Which is good. This will be easier if he’s looking at me.

I’ve healed before. I’ve healed Baldemar when he’s injured himself, several times in fact, but I’ve never been able to do it with the other witches, so I don’t have a lot of faith this will work. Except, I have to have faith. I can’t let Rinan die, or hurt, not any longer than he has to.

Do it. You can do it.

“Heal,” slips from my lips.

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